Expanding Your Reality

In “Your Reality Is Not real (Nor Is Mine)”, we explored how our beliefs can alter our senses and keep us stuck. Here, we explore how to expand our awareness and explore other possible realities so we can get better results in our lives.

Be Aware

Sometimes, the first step in overcoming an obstacle is to admit that it’s there. If you have an area in your life in which you are not doing as well as you’d like, chances are you have a limiting belief in that area. If you have a limiting belief, chances are you’re distorting your reality in a way that prevents you from sensing and getting to possible solutions.

One great thing you can do is be open to the idea that you could believe and do things differently. Once you do that, all of the following will be easier.

The “As If” Frame

The “as if” frame or “pseudo-orientation in time” as it’s sometimes called is an easy way to put us mentally in a place where we already have the solution to our problems and have reached our goals. This sends a powerful message of achievement to our unconscious mind and, at the same time, bypasses many limitations our belief systems and attitudes might contain.

To do the as if frame simply go in your mind, to the future and step into already having achieved your goal. Do it first-person (be yourself–don’t see yourself) and “as if now” (“I am”, not “I will”).

Sleight Of Mouth

Sleight of Mouth patterns are hypnotic language patterns that help you challenge dis-empowering belief systems in yourself and others. By asking just the right questions or saying just the right things, you can help someone step out of a limiting belief and step into the world of possibilities

Many of the Sleight of Mouth patterns help us change the meaning of events around us to a meaning that helps us get things done rather than blocks our way. One way to generate Sleight of Mouth patterns is to ask, when presented with a limiting belief, “How is that good?”

For instance, if a smoker might say, “I can’t stop smoking. I’ve been doing every day for 20 years.” If you ask yourself “How is smoking for 20 years good?”, you might have several possible answers. The smoker might be tired of smoking. Smoking for 20 years shows consistency and determination. It could indicate that once they do something, they do it all the way. All of those ideas can be delivered back to the smoker to help loosen the dis-empowering beleif that stopping is hard.

“Wow, 20 years! You sure are consistent. That’s going to help us tremendously once you stop.”

Expanding Questions

Presuppositions are a powerful tool for NLP practitioners and hypnotherapists. One great “presup” is to assume that there is a solution for any challenge you’re facing and ask questions that embody that presup. “What is it that’s outside of my awareness that can help me dissolve this problem?” “What resources do I have that I haven’t though of yet that can help me with this?”